RecycleForUS.com, an industry-funded national cell phone recycling initiative, has formally launched its new "Recycle it Here" cell phone recycling program on Earth Day, April 22. Individuals and organizations may use the www.RecycleForUS.com Web site to turn in old cell phones and to help keep harmful waste from entering the environment.
RecycleForUS.com representatives also collected old cell phones at Sacramento Earth Day 2006. Cell phones that cannot be reused will be recycled, with no hazardous materials entering landfills, according to a press release from the organization. Before recycling their cell phones, consumers should ensure they have deactivated their service and removed all personal information.
The "Recycle it Here" program was established in response to two new laws passed by the California Legislature. "The Cell Phone Recycling Act of 2004" requires cell phone retailers in California to have free take-back and recycling programs in place by July of this year.
"It is estimated there are now more that 600 million used cellular phones in the U.S., with more than 100 million additional phones being replaced this year," Conrad Melancon, president of RMS Communications, developer of the RecycleForUS.com recycling initiative, says. "This cell phone collection program will help raise money for use in the community while keeping hazardous material out of our landfills."
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